Thursday, June 25, 2009

Healthcare...the first of many posts

First, let me say that if Mark Sanford doesn’t resign as Governor, then the people of South Carolina must come together and demand that he resign. Not only did he violate the trust of his family and his constituents, but he also abandoned his responsibility as chief executive. You can’t just disappear for a few days without word, without notifying someone of how to contact you. Had there been some sort of disaster that required the Governor’s response, what would have happened? That is dereliction of duty and Sanford must resign as a result.

The other day I happened to catch Michael Moore’s “Sicko” on cable. Luckily, I didn’t spend any money on this nonsense. This film is one of the most dishonest, deeply deceiving propaganda flicks ever produced and since Obama is pledging to reconstruct our healthcare system I figure it’s time for this post.

I think the number of uninsured is somewhere around 47 million. The problem with that number is in the details, which also brings up the problem of covering them all. Statistics show that about 25% of the uninsured are illegal immigrants. Another 25% are people who already qualify for some form of government insurance but have not taken the time or the effort to apply for it. And yet another 25% are people who make over $50K a year. So, that really puts things into perspective. Do we really have a problem with lack of health insurance coverage?

I guess it depends on your ideology. Should the US taxpayer be responsible for paying for the medical care of illegal immigrants? I say no, even though we already pay for it when free care is given at your local ER. Regardless, advertising it would be a bad idea. There is no better reason to break the law and come to America illegally than to get free medical care.

And what about those who make over $50K. I think if you paid a visit to their homes you would find things that don’t fit the description of “necessity”. How many flat screen TVs would you find? How many satellite dishes, or cable boxes? How many riding lawnmowers? How many SUVs? The point is, we tend to view healthcare as a right that should be provided by the government and not a responsibility for us to provide for ourselves. We purchase luxury items without thinking twice, but cringe at the idea of paying $500 a month for health insurance. Call me insensitive or whatever, but the bottom line is that most people who make over $50K can afford health insurance but simply choose not to. It’s that simple.

And what of those who already qualify for gov’t aid? This brings the real motives of the pro-universal coverage folks into light. You see, if they were truly concerned about getting people healthcare then they would focus more effort on educating and enrolling these people who can already get healthcare from the government. It would be less difficult and certainly less expensive since the money has already been allocated. But that’s not the case. The universal coverage folks don’t really care about insuring the uninsured as much as they care about controlling as many people as they can. If you depend on the gov’t for healthcare, then you have sold those who provide it your vote. Dependence begets servitude.

Obama wants to change to a pay-for-performance model for doctors. In short, we get paid for quality of care rather than quantity, which tells me Obama knows absolutely nothing about healthcare. Outcomes depend on patient compliance. If I see a diabetic, I can follow the standard of care and maximize that person’s treatment but it will be completely fruitless if that person doesn’t do what I say, and under Obama’s plan I will be paid less because of it. This will create a system where patients who are non-compliant won’t be able to find any doctors willing to see them, and then we’re back to square one. Bad idea, Mr President. Perhaps you should actually consult with some doctors before you advance your plans to fix the healthcare system.

And let me address one statistic that Moore and the rest of the universal-coverage loons love to parrot. The US spends 17% of GDP on healthcare and ranks 50th in the world in life-expectancy. They love this statistic. For some reason they believe that the amount of money spent is directly related to life expectancy, and any discrepancy in these numbers suggests a deficiency in healthcare quality. In their eyes, the more money we spend should translate into a longer life expectancy, and that’s the rationale behind the need for universal coverage. This is preposterous.

It wouldn’t matter if we spent 100% of our GDP on healthcare, we’d still have a poor life expectancy. Why? Well (for lack of better terms) Americans, in general, have a tendency to be fat, lazy, tobacco-addicted, drunken whores. We overindulge in things that are bad for us. Our diets are terrible, we don’t exercise, we play too many video games, spend too much time on facebook, drink too much alcohol, smoke too many cigarettes and have too much sex with lots of different people. This leads to disease, which ultimately leads to death. Giving us all universal coverage will do little to change that. That’s why some third world countries who spend less on healthcare have higher life expectancies, because they aren’t filled with fat, lazy, tobacco-addicted, drunken whores. We have a poor life expectancy because we have trouble controlling our vices. Simple as that.

A more pertinent statistic would be obesity rates, which tend to be inversely related to life expectancy and directly related to healthcare expenditure. The higher the obesity rate, the lower the life expectancy and (because of disease caused by obesity) the more money is spent on healthcare. But don’t count on the universal coverage loons to parrot that one…especially not Michael Moore.

7 comments:

allison said...

Let's see here, No Child Left Behind, not a program that President Obama initiated, requires that teachers be judged and schools be rewarded or penalized depending on student success. However, the best teacher in the world cannot improve the test scores of a student who refuses to do the work, or of a student who does not have the intellectual capacity to be successful on a standardized exam. If you are going to put up a fuss about doctors being paid according to quality, then I'd assume you are also in objection to the current requirements for teachers and schools. Interestingly enough I don't see many people still making a big deal about that.

SNAKE HUNTERS said...

Allison, (Thursday, June 25th)

America has lost its focus; all attention has shifted to Jacko-Mania!

* Education? Forgetaboutit!
>
At 3:15 Thursday, Wacko-Jacko is pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center; CNN and Fox News will both devote the next few days to the revolving spinning imagery of a taped & twirling, duck-walking, singing, and crotch-grabbing white-gloved celebrity buffoonery of the world's favorite icon!

Fresh flowers & stuffed animals pour in, and street-dancing mimickry erupts in the big cities here, and in Britain and France.

At the Apollo Theater in NYC, the marquee lights up in solemn tribute. Times Square too!

No more Obama Daily News Briefs on our Tv Screens. No more young Iranian Protests, hoping for an end to the Grand Ayatollah's 30 years of Theocratic Rule; we are no longer witness to the bloody crackdown from Iran's Security Guards.

The World's Attention Has Shifted, to a Hollywood Celebrity Death. May The Gods We Humans Worship, Save For All Eternity...

The "King of Pop"!
>
FRIDAY, more of the same. reb
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www.lazyonebenn.blogspot.com

allison said...

That had absolutely nothing to do with what I commented.

I am not a huge Michael Jackson fan or anything, but I do think you need to give credit where credit was due and he was a large part of American culture for a long time. Again though, absolutely nothing to do with what I posted.

Anonymous said...

John,

I agree w/ some of what you say, particularly about leading a healthy lifestyle, but unless my math is wrong, you stated in essence that of the 47 million uninsured, half of them could be insured and that another quarter of the uninsured are illegal immigrants.

I can only request the source of your statistics which I am unable to check at present b/c I am using a library computer and can't figure out how to use multiple screens.

Two more points. If you are going to discuss such statistics, I think it is encumbant upon you to discuss the other 353 million. How many are underinsured? How many cannot afford the deductibles or co pays?

Finally, I am certainly not a proponent of having unprotected sex. But on a % basis, what is the effect of HIV and other venereal diseases on our mortality rate? I am not pooh-poohing the problem, but I think, as you point out, obesity is a problem and a far greater problem than the results of promiscuous sex.

So far as obseity is concerned, maybe we see "Food, Inc." in which I suspect some answers may lie.

Enjoy your weekend.

TLGK

Anonymous said...

Mr TLGK,

I'd like to know a bit more about those 353 million! The drug wars on our southern borders must have forced another 46 million to seep in overnight looking for jobs.

Enjoy your week away from the tee-vee screen, unless you like MJacko reruns! - gba -

Anonymous said...

My bad. It should have been 253 million as our population is 300 million.

TLGK

SNAKE HUNTERS said...

My good. U.S. Population is 306,803,177 - reb
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